Explaining Changes to Employees: The influence of Justifications and Change Outcomes on Employees' Fairness Judgments

Abstract

Major changes are occurring in many organizations on an almost constant basis. Managers motivated by profit and by ethics seek to apply methods that help employees adapt to change. One method is Kotter and Schlesinger's “education,” which includes giving explanations for a change to affected employees. This study looks at the efficacy of giving explanations from the perspective of a growing body of theory on fairness judgments. Employees from seven relocated organizations were surveyed. The study finds that, when employees are evaluating the fairness of change outcomes, they apparently expect explanations only when those outcomes are negative. However, employees apparently expect explanations as a means of evaluating decision procedures even when outcomes are favorable. The latter result is likely due to the long term, system-oriented nature of Thibaut and Walker's “procedural fairness” judgments. © 1995, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.